AusCERT chief Ingram steps down

Replacement promises better relationships, late nights sleeping at the office

Graham Ingram, the head of Australia's first Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT), has stepped down after 12 years in the role.

Ingram joined the University of Queensland's AusCERT in 1993 and was on Friday replaced by the university's current incident response chief Thomas King.

The incoming director said he wanted to forge better relationships with state and federal law enforcement and defence agencies.

"We're hitting the gas pedal," King said. "We are a broad organisation and I would like to bring Australia's cybercrime groups together."

AusCERT's paying subscription members were "unanimously positive" to the changing of the guard, he said.

King had sat at the helm for only a day at the time he spoke to Vulture South and said he had no specific plans about what the government relationships would entail. He had phoned and written to a number of police three-letter agencies indicating ties to the CERT would benefit the Australian tech sector.

He had also mulled the creation of a 'virtual security officer' under which AusCERT would function as a security brains trust for organisations needing an infosec kick to their tech shops.

King has worked for two decades in the tech sector, serving most of his time at Australian higher education tech departments with a stint in a Cisco Blighty office.

The new position was more of an increase in responsibility than a promotion with King continuing to run incidence response for the uni and promising many "late nights sleeping at the office".